CHAPTER XI.
LOST IN THE WILDERNESS.
Stella could not keep her eyes from the silver mask of the man who rodeby her side. She was wondering continually at the mystery of him.
For an hour or more they rode up one valley, then across a hill orstretch of prairie, and through valleys again, the black mountainscoming nearer all the time, until at last they entered a forest ofpines, which they traversed until night began to fall.
At a gesture from "Silver Face," as Stella had named the man who rode byher side, the party came to a halt.
Stella now saw that it was the intention to camp, for, while some of themen cared for the horses, others cut down several small pine trees andbuilt a shelter of pine boughs, into which she was ushered, and beforewhich a blazing fire had been lighted.
It had grown very cold, and Stella was grateful for the heat that filledher shelter.
One of the men had brought food, and a pan and coffeepot from a pack onone of the horses, and now began to cook supper.
Stella fully realized the peril of her situation, but particularly thatof Bud, who had been left alone, bound and helpless, in that wilderness.
If he had not given the impression to the boys that he was going westinstead of east, things might have been easier for them, but now Budmight perish of cold or be the prey of wild animals before Ted couldcome to their rescue, which she was sure he would do soon.
After she had eaten the supper which the man with the silver facebrought her with his own hands, she felt better and more cheered, andbegan to take a brighter view of the situation.
The floor of her lean-to shelter had been thickly strewn with pineboughs, which were soft and aromatic, and Stella reclined upon them, andgazed into the fire, listening to the strange sounds that filled theforest, for the camp was absolutely quiet.
After eating their supper the men had silently smoked their pipes andthen curled up on their blankets, which had been spread on mattresses ofpine boughs, and were asleep.
Only Silver Face was awake, and he sat wrapped in his cloak near thefire, his eyes taking on a fiercer gleam as the flickering lights struckthem.
Stella wondered who he was. Evidently the mask concealed a horriblemystery. Could he talk, and would not? Was that eerie, bubbling laugh ofhis the only articulate sound he could make?
Stella wished she knew more about him, and that he would talk to her.
The night was growing on, but Stella did not feel like sleeping.
Occasionally Silver Face arose and replenished the fire with resinouspine logs, and for a while the flames leaped high, filling the woodswith strange shadows and ghostly, wavering spots of light.
Then afar, it seemed, there sounded the night cries of wild animals,timber wolves, those dreaded monsters of the lupus tribe, andoccasionally the scream of the cougar, like a woman in agony. Then,close behind her shelter, there sounded a horrible, snarling shriek. Itwas the night cry of a bobcat close at hand, attracted to the camp bythe scent of the meat which had been cooked for supper.
It was so near and clear that for a moment Stella's heart seemed to stopbeating altogether, and she felt as if she would suffocate, and buriedher face in her hands, expecting every moment to feel the claws of theterrible animal sink into the flesh of her back.
But at the sound Silver Face leaped to his feet, and was coming swiftlyaround the fire.
Through the silver mask his eyes were gleaming wickedly.
Stella heard him, and looked up. He was standing before her at thecorner of her shelter, his blank face turned toward the place from whichthe cat's cry had come.
Suddenly a strange thing happened. From the breast of the black garmentworn by Silver Face leaped a flame, followed by the crash of a revolver.This was succeeded by another, and a third.
The sleeping men had been aroused, and were sitting up in theirblankets, blinking stupidly.
Behind her shelter Stella heard a thrashing among the frozen underbrush,while Silver Face stood immovable, the blazing eyes in the mask staringin that direction.
Meanwhile, Stella was marveling at those shots which had seemed tospring from his very body, and without the apparent use of his hands.
But soon the noise in the brush ceased, and Silver Face stepped out ofsight.
In a moment he was back, and threw into the circle of light about thefire the body of an enormous mountain cat.
The men had fallen back into their blankets and were sleeping again,while Silver Face resumed his place before the fire.
Soon Stella, began to yawn, and her eyes grew heavy with sleep.
But she did not want to sleep. She had a foreboding that if she sleptshe would be in danger.
However, the dancing flames and the soft, comfortable heat which camefrom the fire were too much for her resolution, and her head began todroop, and presently her body sank gently down, and, as she pillowed herhead on her arm, she fell into a deep sleep.
How long she slept she did not know, but when she awoke it was light.
The fire had burned low, and she felt cold and numb.
Staggering to her feet, she looked around. The camp was deserted.
The men were gone, and so were the horses. Beside the fire was aconsiderable pile of wood, and Stella hastily pulled the embers of thefire together and threw several sticks upon it. As the fire blazed upand she grew warmer, she tried to review the situation.
Why had the men who had captured and brought her thus far deserted her?Had they been frightened away by the proximity of the boys? No, it couldnot have been that, for the boys were far away.
Then a thought of horror flashed across her mind. She had been broughthere to perish in the wilderness. Probably Silver Face and his men,desiring to wreak vengeance upon Ted, and feeling that keeping her aprisoner would be too much of a burden, had brought her into thisdangerous place to leave her a prey to the wild animals that she knewinfested the forests.
If they had only left her Magpie, she might have stood some chance ofescaping.
But her fortitude soon returned to her. She was not dead yet, and, whileshe had a fighting chance, she would not despair.
Something of pity must have moved the men, for she found that they hadleft her revolver and her rifle beside her in the lean-to, and that in apile not far from the fire was food enough to last her for severalmeals.
She set about cooking some breakfast, and caught herself singing as shedid so.
After she had eaten she sat down in her shelter to think a way out ofher predicament.
She was in the midst of a reverie when she was brought to her feet bythat most dreaded of sounds--the howl of the timber wolf.
For a moment she stood trembling, trying to think what her best coursewould be.
The wolves had smelled the frying bacon from afar, and had beenattracted to it, for the scent had carried far in the clear air.
From another direction came another wolf cry, and presently they seemedto come from every direction.
They were far away as yet, but the wolves were gathering.
Without trying to reason further, Stella gathered up what food she couldcarry, and, grasping her rifle, struck out into the forest in thedirection away from that from which the howls of the wolves came to her.
Suddenly to one side appeared a slinking, gray form, which slunk along,apparently dodging behind the trees, but following her.
As it came from behind a tree in fair sight, she swung her rifle to hershoulder and fired.
It was a strike, for the wolf, with a howl of pain sprang in the air,then rolled over on the snow and lay still.
As the report of the shot reverberated back from the mountains, it wasfollowed by a perfect crescendo of wolf howls.
They sounded louder and nearer now, and Stella's heart began to beatrapidly with fear.
Too well she knew what would happen if they caught her.
But suddenly a thought came to her, and she stopped.
Surely Ted and the boys would come to find her.
They might even now beon the way, and who could say they were not far away?
If she could only send them a message to let them know that they were onthe right trail!
Her face lighted up with an inspiration. She had the means.
Breaking a stick from a low-growing tree, she began to write in thesnow:
"I am followed by a wolf pack. Hurry." "Stella"
These were the words she left behind her for Ted to read should he comethat way.
Then she hurried on with all speed.
Every few minutes the howls of the wolves assailed her ears as shestruggled on through the snow.
Her burden of food was becoming very heavy, and she cast away a part ofit.
Perhaps, she thought, it would serve to stop the wolves for a while whenthey found it on her trail.
Every moment seemed to bring the cries of the wolves nearer.
They were following in her footsteps now, for the noise was all behindher, not scattered over the forest, as it had been at first.
The brutes had gathered into a pack, and Stella shuddered as shepictured in her mind the gray band coming upon her with long, loping,tireless strides; with red, long, lolling tongues and slavering,sharp-fanged jaws.
Presently she heard another noise behind her, and looked over hershoulder.
The sight that met her eyes caused her to almost faint.
Not twenty yards behind her was an enormous gray wolf, loping alongeasily but as swiftly as a horse.
His eyes were blazing like green lamps, and his great body was scarredand torn. Evidently he was the king of the pack.
Stopping suddenly, she drew her revolver and fired two shots at him.
He came to a halt with a snarl of rage and began biting at his shoulder.
Then Stella turned and ran again, with the clamor of the pack closebehind her.
But she was failing, and her run had become a painful stagger, and herbreath came in gasps.
She was near the end, and she realized it. She fancied herself fallinginto the midst of that ravenous crew and shuddered. What could she do tosave herself?
Not far ahead was a tree with a forked branch growing low enough for herto reach it if she still had strength to get so far. With almost asuperhuman effort she continued her flight toward it.
As she reached it the great, gray king of the pack was only a few feetbehind her, so close that she could hear him pant from his long run.
She reached up to the branch and tried to pull herself up, but it was animpossible task burdened with food and rifle and her coat, which she hadremoved at a time when she had stopped long enough to write anothermessage in the snow for Ted.
She threw the rifle in the snow and tried it again, but she could not,and then cast aside the food and the coat, and succeeded in clamberinginto the sheltering nook just as the great wolf, leaping into the air,swept past her, carrying in his teeth a shred of her skirt. She wassafe, but by a very narrow margin.
She looked up into the tree, for the branch upon which she was perchedwas so near the ground that she was not safe from the leaps of thesavage and famished brutes.
But the next higher branch was far beyond her reach or her ability toclimb to.
She must defend herself as best she could.
Fortunately she had retained her revolver and had a good supply ofammunition.
As the old wolf leaped again she fired, and knew that the ball hadentered his neck. If she could shoot him often enough, she ought to killhim after a while.
But now the clamor was all about her. The pack had arrived, and wasleaping about the foot of the tree like waves upon a storm-tossed shore.
Her red coat had been torn to shreds, and, in the fight over the foodshe had cast aside, more than one of the brutes had met his death by therazorlike teeth of his comrades.
Suddenly, through the din about her, Stella lifted her head andlistened, while for a moment the wolves ceased leaping and howling andstood listening also.
From afar off, and very faintly, there came to her a subdued cheer. Herheart leaped with hope. Could it be the boys who were signaling to her?
But now the wolves, even more savage than before, were leaping at her,their saber teeth snapping within an inch of her, as she fired intotheir faces, and laughed as she saw them roll upon the snow in theirdeath agony.
Again she heard a faint cry in the forest. Oh, if she should be wrong,and it was not the dear old Moon Valley yell, she would die.
Now the old king of the pack returned to the attack.
He was bigger and stronger than any of the others, and when he snappedat them with his terrible teeth they made way for him.
He began a succession of leaps at her, and every time she planted abullet in his massive and seemingly invulnerable body.
But each leap brought him closer to her perch.
The next jump might be the one by which he would reach her, she thought,and that surely would be the end, for, if he ever succeeded in gettinghis hooked fangs fastened in her clothes, she would be pulled from thetree in an eye twinkling, and she shuddered as she thought of thesequel.
The end seemed very near, and she had about given up hope of holding outuntil the boys could reach her, when a well-known yell was wafted to heron the frozen air. The boys had come.
She felt the fangs of the king of the pack fasten in her skirt, and sheknew that she was being pulled out of her perch when, through the woodscame Ted and Bud and Ben, and the rest of her friends, yelling like madand amid a perfect fusillade of rifle shots.
Then she began to slide out of the tree. But she did not reach theground, for Ted was there, and she slipped naturally and without harminto his arms, as the last of the pack that remained alive escaped intothe forest.